Villages get ready for Arundel Bypass Battle

Press release issued 30/10/14 by ABNC

Walberton and Binsted have taken action in the face of a new threat to both villages. In an attempt to find an Arundel bypass route outside the National Park, the semi-secret A27 Feasibility Study for the Department for Transport has proposed a route known as Option B, which crosses Binsted Lane twice where houses are most thickly clustered, and continues up Binsted valley and across the Hilton’s golf course to demolish houses in Walberton. This and four other options – A (the Pink/Blue route) and three online options - were revealed at the 27 August meeting of the Study’s Stakeholder Reference Group, and a map of them was circulated, though no public announcements have been made. MPs and others are pressing for the three online options to be rejected at this stage.

On 21 October the Arundel Bypass Neighbourhood Committee, which fought to keep the Arundel bypass out of Binsted in the 1990s, gathered in Binsted church and passed three resolutions: 1. To object strongly to Option B. 2. To ask for all the Study’s Options to be kept on the table. 3. To ask that the bypass process should be ‘a great deal more transparent’ and that ‘no decisions which affect the countryside, and people’s homes, livelihoods and businesses there, are made without proper consultation with those people’.

On 28 October Walberton Parish Council passed three similar resolutions.

To press for all Options to be progressed to Stage 3 and beyond of the Department of Transport’s A27 Corridor Feasibility Study. For avoidance of doubt, this includes Options A to E and the online improvements as proposed in the Atkins report A Route Strategy and Action Plan for the A27 Final Report 17 July 2013.

To object to Options B1 and B2 due to the severe harm they will do to Walberton Parish, its residents, businesses and amenities.

To object to the rushed nature of the A27 Corridor Feasibility Study and to the poor level of stakeholder involvement, including the lack of information made available to those stakeholders and to the people that they represent.

They also hope to liaise with Arundel Town Council and Lyminster Parish Council over the A27 corridor improvements programme.

Both groups have written to the Study and to the Minister for Roads with their decisions. ABNC’s reasoning includes the argument that the decision about whether to have an offline bypass needs to be revisited, since Option B is completely new, and Option A (the Pink/Blue route) is now within the new National Park. The best route to a democratic debate is to press for all the options to be openly discussed.